Here I have another Series to review. This time, I will be reviewing the “Love At Stake” series by Kerrilyn Sparks. I’ve read a few of these books already, and I’ve always meant to read them all. Since I’ve been bit by the reviewing bug, I’ve decided to do this series as well. I hope you like these books as much as I do! So, sit back and craft while I type! Thank you again for joining me!

I’ll be linking (as usual) to each book as I read through them. Here they all are:

July 18th->19th: I still can’t believe I finished this book within the course of 14 hours. But I got sucked in to the romance of Roman and Shanna. Basically, he looses a fang and goes to Shanna, who happens to be a Dentist who happens to be afraid of blood and is in trouble with the Russian Mofia (because her dad pissed them off). When Roman realizes this, he strives to protect her from the Mofia, as well as a Russian Vampire, who happens to be Roman’s Mortal Enemy (or Immortal Enemy, if you will).

I’ve actually read a few books later on, and always wondered about these two characters and how they met. They are mentioned quite a few times in the next stories in this series and their current dramas, but not how they first got together! I loved how Ms. Sparks dealt with their individual issues, and how she got them to work better together than apart. Well Done! Couldn’t wait to get to the rest of the series!

July 19th->21st: This is the story of Mortal Austin and Vampiress Darcy. Essentially, she is a vampire who hates that Connor made her a vampire as she lay dying. He is a CIA agent in league with Shanna’s Dad Sean at the start. A member of the Stake-Out team, and with a high level of metaphysical power to control objects and read minds. Sean sends Austin and another Stake-Out Agent undercover as contestants on a show that turns out to be the Vampire version of the Bachelor. Darcy is the one who comes up with the idea for and directs the newly coined “Sexiest Man on Earth” for the only all-owned Vampire TV station (DVN: Digital Vampire Network). There’s a lot of comedy and romance that ensues. He starts to realize that his boss is a butthead, and ends up joining forces with Roman and the other bottle-fed Vampires hunting the Malcontent Vampires (those that still hunt and kill mortals to drink their blood). As for Darcy, she gets another chance at a mortal life. How, do you ask? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

I bought this book on the newsstand when it first came out in 2006. My copy is very well-loved, some pages are dog-eared (you know, folded over…I’ve stopped doing this since I bought this book, but the signs are there that I’ve been reading it awhile), and the pages are actually turning yellow, but it still doesn’t keep me coming back to this lovely story. The true test of a good book, is if it has staying power. This one REALLY does for me. It’s survived two moves and several book purging sessions to our local library, if that’s any tell. Well Done Ms. Sparks!

July 21st->22nd: This was another quick read for me. It’s the first read-through, and I can’t believe it took me this long to finally read it. It’s meant to be a short story between the “main” books in the series. However, I believe Ms. Sparks would never truly think of it that way. She took the story of Maggie & Don Orlando to a whole other level. We learn that Don Orlando (the cheesy, piggish Vampire who is the star of DVN’s most popular soap opera) may not be Don Orlando. Maggie suspects this from the first time she saw him on TV, but finally gets a chance to help him figure out who he really is while they work side-by-side on the soap opera. He finds his family is not what they seem like on the outside, and she finds a new step-daughter and a family with a wonderfully interesting secret. You’ll have to read the book to find out what, though. You’ll love the twist! I promise!

July 22nd->26th: This is another in the series that I picked up at the newsstand as soon it came out in 2007. However, I haven’t read it through as much as I would have liked, but it has survived at least one move! 🙂 I’m still in love with the storyline! 🙂

This is the story of Vampire Angus & Stake-Out team member Emma. I’m only 100 pages in so far, but there’s been a full moon, banter, and plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor I’ve come to love from the author! Can’t wait to dive back into it! 🙂

26th 2PM: In fact, I started reading and managed to finish just after noon today! I’m in LOVE with the story! 🙂

Started this one just before 12:00PM today! Might read more later, and I can’t wait! 🙂

Update 8/17: I read this one between July 26th and 27th. It is the story of Jean-Luc and Heather. I had heard about their possible relationship when I had picked up a later novel up from the newsstand a few years ago, and had always meant to go back and read about them. I can say I have now! Sometimes I found myself cringing about how long it took Heather to figure out who Jean Luc was, but that’s okay. Sometimes a little innocence can make the love story that much sweeter! I love how he gets to adopt her daughter and these two appear later in the series. But, you didn’t hear that from me…

July 27th->July 29th: This is another book that I picked up at the newsstand when it first came out. At first, I didn’t realize that it was part of a series, and I’ve been meaning to read the previous books, so here I am! My paperback copy of this book isn’t as well-loved as the others, but I’ve ALWAYS enjoyed this story, and my want to read the series in the correct order now is just the perfect excuse to return to it! This book centers around the love story of Ian

July 29th->Aug 1. It’s funny to me that Jack and Lara (an cop, now retired) meet as she’s busting up Ian’s Bachelor Party, which he is in charge of as the Best Man! From there, it’s just pretty awesome! I don’t want to give up too much more of the story, but it’s a great story! 🙂

Aug 2nd->3rd: This is the story of Vanda and Phil. Vampire and werewolf, respectably. It starts with her being sentenced to Anger Management, Phil being her sponsor, and many other awesome storyline pieces. You’ll just have to read this one for yourself. It was a quick, but enjoyable read! 🙂

Aug 3rd->4th: This time, it’s Olivia and Robby’s story. Carlos makes an appearance, but just as a matchmaker. Olivia can read emotions, and Robby is on a forced vacation after he was captured. You know, they heal each other and fall in love. This is a great story, and I couldn’t put it down! 🙂

Aug 4th->5th: This is Carlos and Caitlyn’s story. Caitlyn learns about who her father really is, who her brother-in-law is, and who Shanna has chosen for a family. Carlos finally gets his mate, and dies a few times. But, Cats have 9 lives, so… In Were-Cat’s cases, that means they get more power each time they die… It’s an interesting thought…

A Spoiler Alert was marked on my Goodreads page for this one… Apparently I fat-fingered the “:)” as I was entering my review on my Kindle. LOL…

Aug 5th->8th: Finally! The Cranky Vampire of the clan gets his chance at love! That’s all I’m going to say… (the rest has a bit of spoilers, so don’t read it, if you haven’t read the book yet…)

Or, that’s what I thought originally. We learn that Connor has the whole host of heaven playing matchmaker for Connor. Marielle is an angel of death, who is just like him. A born leader, who tends not to react well to others’ orders… They end up healing each other, and the reader is left celebrating when an important battle happens! I would tell you what each got from such a healing, but then I would REALLY be giving away something pretty awesome. You’ll have to read the book to know why I have a smile on my face as I write this. Heck, I feel like the cat that ate the Canary…

This was such a good book, I was sad that I had gobbled it up as fast as I did.

Aug 8th->10th: Welp. Gregory can blame Connor for the mess he finds himself having to deal with. The Vampire secret is out! Good news, though? He gets to meet Abby (the President’s VERY smart daughter) while trying to smooth over the video damage that has been done in the previous book. But, I don’t think Gregory is TOO mad at Connor after meeting his mate. So, it’s all good. Right? …LOL

Aug 10->11th: Phineas (Vamp) and Bryn (A Wolf Princess) get thrown together enough that their attraction sticks! Howard comes to help Phineas and Phil (Bryn’s Brother) get Bryn back after she is kidnapped by her father and an evil Werewolf. Here, Howard learns that the bad werewolf apparently has multiple lives as well. But you’ll have to read this book and the next to learn all of the drama behind why this little tidbit is important! I couldn’t put this book down, and that little bit of foreshadowing helped lure me right into the beginning of the next book! 🙂

Aug. 11th-16th: This is the story of Elsa and Howard. Together they learn more about their heritages. Elsa learns she’s a Guardian of the Forrest, and Howard learns more about the history of his people. He learns more about how inter-connected the evil werewolf has been in both their pasts and in their current. But He’s a Pooh Bear with an affinity for eating Bear Claw donuts… Well, now we know more about him, and I kinda liked learning more about who he is, at the same time Elsa learns to trust her instincts. Yay for that! I love that she has no idea who she really was until she met Howard. And that Tino ratted Howard out about a secret stash of “adult videos” that turn out to be tapes of the show that Elsa’s on. Oh man! I love that little tyke!

8/16->Current: I started this one right before 11PM last night. Read like one page before I realized HOW far behind my reviews were here versus how fast I had been reading them, and here I am…

Update 9/2: Finished this one 8/18. I think my review on Goodreads sums up my feelings about this one PERFECTLY!!! “:) Love at Stake was a cute little novella… Not sure about the rest…”

Book 14: The Vampire With The Dragon Tattoo

8/18->8/23: This book went pretty fast, considering I read this over the course of an entire work weekend. I loved the tale of Dougal (who happens to be a vampire with a metal arm who used to play the bagpipes at gatherings, no longer can, and bitches about it more than he should at the very beginning of this story) and Leah (the new scientist hired to help the Vamps change the Supersoldiers back to normal). The VANNA dolls make another appearance, to the detriment of their first meeting… But it’s still hilarious, because metal arm meets plastic blow up doll… I’m sure you can imagine what happens, but you’ll have to read the story for yourself to see how they go from that to true love! Trust me, you’ll be glad you did! 🙂

Book 15: How to Seduce A Vampire (Without Really Trying)

8/23->8/27: This is the story of Zoltan (a vampire who has always been on the hunt for his father’s murderers and his mother’s people) and Neona (an immortal healer who just happens to live in the Valley Zoltan’s mother comes from). Suffice to say, we meet some wonderful Were-Dragons and their keepers, and the “fountain of eternal youth” along the way. I couldn’t put this one down, even though I was trying to make the series last…

Book 16: Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire

8/27->8/31: This is the story of Russell (the Vamps found him in a Vampire Coma a few years ago, and hates Master Han) & Jia (a tiger princess who is being forced into an arranged marriage), who are after the same evil Vampire. They resist each other until she comes into her second life. There was quite to learn about after that. But, I don’t want to give away the storyline. Ms. Sparks does a good job of wrapping up all that has happened in the series as Roman is addressing the Vamps at Russell & Jia’s wedding… Rajiv finds his beau too, just so you know..

I couldn’t put this one down, even though I was trying to make the series last…

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I hope you enjoyed my analysis of this series as much as I did writing and reading them. Until later! -Silver-